In the Time of the Butterflies
First edition
|
|
| Author | Julia Alvarez |
|---|---|
| Original title | In the Time of the Butterflies |
| Translator | Rolando Costa Picazo |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English and Spanish language |
| Genre | Nonfiction Novel |
| Publisher | Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill |
|
Publication date
|
1994 (English) 2001 (Spanish) |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 344 pp (first edition, hardback) 427 pp (paperback/Spanish) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 30319222 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3551.L845 I5 1994 |
In the Time of the Butterflies is a historical novel by Julia Alvarez, relating an account of the Mirabal sisters during the time of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. The book is written in the first and third person, by and about the Mirabal sisters. First published in 1994, the story was adapted into a feature film in 2001.
This is the story of the four Mirabal sisters during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. At school, one of the sisters, Minerva, meets a girl, Sinita, who later became one of her best friends. Sinita eventually confided in Minerva the truth about Trujillo - that their "glorious" leader was a killer. The sisters make a political commitment to overthrow the Trujillo regime. They are harassed, persecuted, and imprisoned, all while their family suffers retaliation from the Military Intelligence Service (SIM).
As vengeance for their political activities, Trujillo orders three of the sisters be killed on Puerto Plata Road, with their driver ear Rufino, while returning from visiting their husbands in jail. The women and driver are beaten to death and later their vehicle and bodies are dumped off a cliff in order to make their deaths look like an accident.
Minerva: The third Mirabal sister, and certainly the most headstrong. She is focused on law school, and succeeds in completing it as an adult, although Trujillo withholds her degree as revenge. She has a brief romance with the revolutionary leader "Lio" before she meets Manolo in law school (also a revolutionary), and marries him. She has two children, a daughter Minou and a son Manolito.
Dedé: Dede is the second Mirabal sister. She is not as certain about the revolution as her sisters, and feels weaker because of that fact. She has mixed feelings about joining the revolution, so she doesn't. She uses her husband, Jaimito, as the reason she doesn't officially join. He doesn't want her involved in the revolution, and the conflict almost destroys their marriage. She is constantly worrying about her sisters, telling them they'll be killed. She has children, all boys, Enrique, Rafael, and David. In the end she is the only survivor of her four sisters.
...
Wikipedia